Experimental study of glass-fiber mat thermoplastic material impact properties and lightweight automobile body analysis

With the development of automobile technology, more and more light-weight materials are applied to automobile body. Glass mat thermoplastic (GMT) material is a promising material that has good mechanical strength, impact energy absorbing capacity and recuperability. It is more and more used in automobile body for the purpose of lightweighting and environmental protection. In this paper, the high strain rate mechanical property of one GMT material is studied using the split Hopkinson pressure bar technique. The test result is analyzed for its applicability in automobile body and a material replacing method from original steel sheet to GMT sheet is found. Then the computer simulation is carried out for a car crashing into a rigid wall before and after some of its parts made such material replacement. The simulation results show that the method presented in this paper for GMT material application in automobile body is applicable. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.